Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Resurges as Top-Performing Sector This Month

Defi Sector Performance

The DeFi sector has been the second-best performing sector year to date, with an increase of 210%.

It only trails memecoins, which have posted gains of 314%. In the past 30 days, DeFi has separated itself from the other sectors and has nearly doubled the increase of the next best asset, Bitcoin (BTC).

Month to date, DeFi is the best-performing sector, increasing by 58%. Smart Contract Platforms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tokens follow at 32.6% and 25.9%, respectively.

Interestingly, memecoins are in sixth place at only 11.5%, indicating their waning momentum.

As for the individual performers, Curve DAO Token (CRV) is the best-performing DeFi asset this month at nearly 300%, followed by Convex Finance (CVX) and SushiSwap (SUSHI) at nearly 200%.

Except for Frax, all tokens have increased, and the only others that are not in double digits are Jupiter, Pendle, and THORChain.

However, when looking at the performance year to date, Aerodrome Finance easily takes the lead at a massive 4,461% increase, followed by Pendle and Reserve Rights at 386% and 361%, respectively.

The resurgence of the DeFi sector is not only visible in the price. On the contrary, on-chain metrics show an even bigger growth, supporting the price appreciation.

On-Chain Statistics

The “New Wallets per Week” is the on-chain metric that best illustrates the massive increase. After gradual growth until August, the metric has become nearly parabolic. Almost 70% of new wallets  are created in the Solana blockchain, displaying its recent dominance over the DeFi sector.

September had the highest number of unique  DeFi users, with more than 21 million. Raydium is the clear leader, in the Solana ecosystem  with over 60% of the market share. Whirlpool is second at roughly 25%.

Previously, we saw that memecoins were the best-performing sector year to date. This performance has trickled over to Solana DeFi since the Raydium decentralized exchange (DEX) facilitates memecoin trading.

This is best explained by the monthly transactions by chain, where Solana has skyrocketed since the start of the year.

Only Base is keeping up with it to a degree, likely behind the rise of Aerodrome Finance, which has been the best-performing DeFi asset year to date.

TVL Lags Behind

Interstingly, the DeFi sector has not reached  its all-time high Total Value Locked (TVL) despite this on-chain boom. Rather, it has a TVL of $152 billion, well below the all-time high of $212 billion reached in December  2021.

Unlike DEX transactions, Ethereum dominates the TVL rankings with 57%, followed by Solana and Tron at 7.61 and 5.58%, respectively. Ethereum’s share has remained steady since 2022.

It is worth mentioning that the best-performing DeFI assets are on the Ethereum blockchain. Even Aerodrome Finance, the best-performing DeFi asset since the start of the year, is on an Ethereum Layer-2. 

While Solana DEX transactions have surged, the beneficiaries of these transactions have been memecoins listed on the DEXes rather than the DeFi protocols. While the RAY price has increased roughly 300% this year, it is still well below its all-time high reached in 2021.

On the other hand, the TVL of the three best performers this year, Aerodrome FInance, Pendle, and Rersrve Protocol, has increased massively this year and is at or close to an all-time high.

So, TVL seems to have a better correlation with price performance.

Year of DeFi

The Decentralized Finance sector has enjoyed a resurgence in the final months of 2024. On-chain metrics have improved drastically, and 2025 could be shaping up to be the year of DeFi.

Solana has taken the lead in DEX transactions, but Ethereum is way ahead in TVL. The DeFI protocols whose tokens increased the most in price are all on the Ethereum blockchain or in its Layer 2-s.